Waiting for Spring
by thebrightestfell
Summary: Maka has heard of Spring but never seen it. Not in her lifetime has there been one. There have been scorching summers where the crops wither and winters with winds so harsh skin crackles like ice. But never Spring. And when she meets a mysterious wanderer claiming he is on a search to find it she leaves home determined to help. Because she's tired of waiting for Spring.
1. in the time of the feuding seasons

**A/N:** Wow this has been a ride. Reverse Resbang was my first contribution to the Soul Eater fandom, though, hopefully, not my last.

This, though. _Thisssss_. I have been working on this marvelous giant thing from the get-go. I'm still editing part 4 and the epilogue (tentatively part 5, but so small it's hardly that) and will probably upload that tomorrow because life sucks and I have problems with internet and posting (yay!). Until then this is what I'm still going to title a "first draft."

There are some stories that take longer to work and re-write, stories that take longer to fully display everything the author wants.

This is one of those projects.

I'm so glad my lovely partner had such an idea that completely overwhelmed me and I'll be marking this story as "incomplete" because I plan on re-working it later on down the road (though the full story will be posted by tonight or tomorrow). I'm very proud of this monstrosity though I wish I had more time to truly add and piece what themes I really wanted to portray. Nonetheless. Here you guys go. Follow and expect a re-write eventually (because I just love the ideas I designed for this thing SOOOOO much)! Also, will have a link to mystery-shrouded tumblr's jewelry pieces in my profile page. Go take a look. THEY ARE GORGEOUS!

-Bright

* * *

 _in the time of the feuding seasons_

The sun beats down white-hot and blazing like torchlight on Maka and her poor summer harvest. She exhales heavily, sweat dripping down her neck, as she appraises the practically barren patch of land. Most of the fruit seems dead and withered, once green leaves curling inwards on themselves and browning like old leather, a disastrous omen. The spinach won't survive either and the cabbage looks barely worth harvesting, but she supposes they'd take whatever they could get. The cucumbers, oregano, carrots, chiles, sunflowers, basil, and pepper are pulling through, albeit poorly, but it is something.

And in a world with a summer heatwave capable of decimating crops and livestock within a week, anything edible worth saving is food to be thankful for.

Her short skirt billows around her thighs in the warm breeze, bits of dust and decayed plant parts flying into her eyes and making them water. Or maybe she is just crying. It is a possibility, though one she refuses to hang onto for long, because honestly when did crying ever help? The other women in her village partook in such an act, but never Maka. She and her father are too influential, the only people capable of growing _anything_ during the ruthless summers and merciless winters.

But how long can she keep this going? The Seasons, in their arrogant blindness, fight for dominance of the world without a care to how it affects the humans living in it.

It has been this way for a long time to Maka's knowledge. The earth hasn't seen a Spring in decades and perhaps never will again. There are those that believe prayer and faith can bring it back, so they built their temples and sacrificed whatever they could get their hands on to no avail. That harvest failed in producing anything of substance like the last had. And the one before that. _And the one before that._

Maka sighs to herself and swats the gnats, flies and other insects intent on licking the sweat off her arms before trudging off to the west to see if maybe the apple trees and the melon patch are faring better. She drew farming duties today (as she did almost every day) and knows a dusty, dirty far walk awaits her.

Her village was constructed in the center of what the history scrolls said was once large, lush plains full of rich soil and numerous water sources. The plains her ancestors built their homes on extended north and south, parallel to the World Forest to the west, though eventually it met its end to the south where the Forest took back the land and to the east where the hills rose into high, white-topped mountains. Their fields were fed off a small tributary of the much larger Spartoi River that legend claimed wound and flowed eternally through the World Forest until it ran off the edge of the horizon to flow into the Moon, the pure water the reason for it's nightly white glow. The original settlers, farmers and herders, were ingenious and carefully constructed a decent-sized lake the tributary could run through near the village in order to help maintain crops and lifestock with a thought-out irrigation system. They believed their bountiful home would last forever.

Whether any of this is true or not Maka does not know. Only that several decades ago, shortly after the Seasons began their feuding, the lake dried up into a pitiful hole of red mud and dank water during the First Endless Summer quickly, as the heat progressed, becoming red sand. The decent tributary vanished in a night morphing into a tiny trickling stream, still present but not with nearly as much water. The First Long Winter struck months later and instead of an Autumn harvest her people had an Autumn burial. In that year alone, Maka's village lost half it's population. They've never recovered.

And they've been struggling to stay alive ever since.

Maka Albarn wipes a wrinkled tanned hand across her wet brow and adjusts her whickered hat over her slowly darkening ash blonde hair. Remembering stories about the past always makes her bitter and she huffs in annoyance at herself. Her stormy green eyes glare at the sun as it cackles up above never mind the fact that it sears her vision. In response to her vicious stare, or perhaps just because Summer rules the world, a strong wind pours humid air over her. It causes her to sputter and pause and she growls angrily, her walk feeling twice as far with the desert winds and the sun high in the sky. She feels like someone has thrown melted candle wax at her face, burning and painful and drying her skin stiff as a board in its wake.

The young teenager almost squeals with delight when she catches the thin, balding apple trees swaying in the breeze and the formidable, but shady, wall of trees that marks the World Forest a little farther behind them. With the constant change from heavy heat to bitter cold, the soil on the plains was practically turned to dust through the years. It could produce small plants occasionally (if the gods willed it) but most of the larger vegetables and fruits, like melons and carrots, or fruit-bearing trees, anything that needed firmer soil for their roots, they took to planting near the World Forest where the sand became blacker. Fresher.

Maka gingerly touches each budding tree as if greeting old friends. She peeks up eagerly and smiles at the sight of the sparse pale red circles hanging delicately along ashy gray branches. Most are only as big as large strawberries but others had reached a more substantial size. And all of the trees, thankfully, appear to have born fruit despite the withering heat. One good omen usually brings another, or so her Mama used to tell her, so the young girl is pleased but unsurprised to see a couple of cantaloupes and watermelons sprouting in their patch of dirt near the apple orchard. She wearily removes her hat to unhook the wicker basket slung across her back and began gathering what she could when an odd noise makes her pause.

 _Crunch_

The second instant gives her a better idea of where the sound originates from. Dropping her basket and moving as silently as she could, Maka sneaks her way to the edge of the orchard and close to the tree line of the World Forest. And there, sitting relaxed in outlandish clothing underneath a large maple tree, is a _white_ -haired man.

Munching happily on one of _her_ apples!

Throwing caution to the wind, Maka emerged, furious and enraged. A strange heat bubbling below in her abdomen. How dare he! _How_ dare _he._

"Hey! You there! Stop that!"

Startled red eyes flash to her probably red approaching face and the albino scrambles hastily to his feet. He stares at her, lips twisted in an incredulous expression, as if she is a mirage or a nightmare. Maka marches closer and closer, eyes tight with fury but watchful and wary. Summer or Winter savaged the land frequently and savaged land sometimes bred savage people. If this man is a bandit she'd best be prepared for a fight.

Eventually she stomps right in front of him, looking upwards as he had a head and a half on her, which causes her glare to deepen. It isn't unusual, per se, for others to surpass her miniscule height but it didn't calm her ire over it nor make her any less of a threat. That she made sure everyone knew and knew well.

This man will figure that out as well.

He is still as a statue and continues to stare at her like she can't be real. She waits patiently, or as patiently as she can muster, for him to say something, anything, but when she is given nothing but his face twisted with shock she takes action.

Maka slaps the half-eaten apple out of his hand and into the dirt. _That_ seems to gain his attention.

"Whoa! Hey now! I was eating that!"

Maka grins sardonically. "Mmhmm. Yes. And now you're not."

A bleached eyebrow, practically translucent in the sweltering sunlight, raises at her no-nonsense tone. The stranger finally steps back and takes a good look at her dusty slacks, sun-stained skin, and weathered hands. Pieces of hair the color of the Winter's first snowfall glitter as he glances upward and chuckles. A very clean hand, Maka notes, rubs against his forehead as he snorts.

"Ah. I get it. These are your apple trees. That's why you're angry."

She mimics his earlier eyebrow raise and huffs. "Yes. It's rude, you know, to eat other people's food source with the Summer heat rising. This is the only bit of harvest we'll get until Winter hits."

"Hmm. Yes. Well, I apologize, but if they're so crucial to your survival you ought not keep them unattended, don't you think?"

Slack-jawed, Maka sputters and struggles to find the words to explain that her town needed both water _and_ food and the best water source is out on the plains while the best soil was out to the west near the World Forest when he interrupts her.

"Alright then, settle down. I didn't ask for a speech. It was merely an observation. Goodness, your kind is so testy. And I thought we were quick to anger. Hah." Red eyes, like bleeding Winter sunsets or Autumn leaves just before they fall to the earth and die, laughs at her confused expression. Maka is busy puzzling over what he meant by "your kind' when he sighs noisily.

"I'll be leaving your precious orchard soon enough. Wanderers must wander and searchers will find. Any chance you'd be willing to part with some of your precious fruit? I'll buy some."

Confused even more so than before, Maka can only tilt her head at his suggestion. Trade and sale are fairytale concepts for the most part to her. Not many dared wander the desert the plains had turned into with the death of Spring and the war between Summer and Winter. As such there are no new faces or purchasing of any kind. Her village is a family and families share everything they have.

Besides what is one going to do with money or gold once Winter clutches the land in their cold, unforgiving claws and the snow and ice swallows the last of their salvageable crops? Eat it? She doesn't think so.

"I don't want your money," She scoffs. The young woman points a lean, firm hand to the distant East where dust, sand, and rock reign. "I have an entire village to feed! We don't have any food to spare. Especially for metals or what have you."

"Metals? You mean coins?"

"Yes. Whatever. I have no use for them."

The so-called "wanderer" parts his lips to smile and for a moment Maka glimpses sharp, _pointed_ teeth. Before she can comment on his unusual physical attributes she is caught by the rolling of his eyes as if dealing with a child's silly notions. Maka has half a mind to punch the grin off his somewhat handsome face, fearsome teeth be damned.

"I forget sometimes how strange humans can be. Ah, how should I put this-um, you see, I need your fruit and therefore I will give you something of mine that you need in order to purchase some. I would not offer someone brave enough to live on the Dead Plains something as menial as money."

Maka narrows her ashy brows and chews on the inside of a cheek. She has only heard stories of trading and bartering and has little to no experience herself surrounding it. Curious, but distrustful, she nods and shrugs lazily, not entirely happy about being ignorant of anything.

"What exactly are you offering?"

He doesn't hide his surprise that she decided to take a go at it but he must need sustenance pretty badly as he hastily begins pulling bizarre objects out of hidden pockets in his thin shirt, fluttering and glittering like a blizzard wind. He shows her a cylindrical tapered object that looks exactly like an icicle plucked from the roof of a house only it does not melt under Summer's sun. Then, he offers two seeds colored a pale blue as if they are tiny bits of frozen water. And eventually he begrudgingly removes a uniquely shaped blade, black as the blackest Winter night with a maroon sheen. When Maka turns her head a certain way it sort of took on the likeness of half a crescent moon.

She accepts the blade despite it having no base to rest on but demands he give her another thing of use. Food is the most important thing anyone can possess and if he wants her to part with some he best grant her something more substantial than alien seeds and a magical icicle.

"Alright already, " he mutters angrily. "Calm down now. How about-um." He rubs a palm across a clear forehead, how he isn't sweating waterfalls like she is an irritating mystery, and scratches the back of his head. She guesses this was some type of nervous tick. Finally, he snaps and points down at her feet.

"Boots! How about I give you my boots!"

Maka appraises the thick black leather boot he raises for her to get a good look at and then she compares it to her worn-out brown balding shoes slowly falling to pieces.

"These were Mama's shoes," She mumbles.

"Yes, I'm sure, but _these_ I can guarantee you will last you many, many years. Actually these boots will probably outlive you."

That doesn't sound extremely likely to Maka, but she consents. The heat is only rising and she has already wasted enough time bickering with the snowy-haired man.

"Fine. Sure. I'll take them."

The boots are heavy and large on her petite feet, but comfortable and apparently heat-resistant. Her toes are nice and cool while the back of her shirt clings to her soaked skin and drops of sweat tickle her nose. It is odd but a good kind of odd.

She smiles happily at the stranger who doesn't appear too distraught or concerned with being barefoot on the ground as Summer's fire spreads across the air. The wanderer talks her into settling in the shade for a bit to prepare for her long trek home and they begin aimlessly talking.

"So…where exactly are you wandering to?"

"Eh." He runs a thumb over chapped lips and brings an apple out of some hidden pocket in his shirt. Maka's face pinches at that but his next words halt any tirade. "More of searching truthfully. I'm not like you if you can't tell." Autumn woods meet her eyes and glitter with mischief. "I'm a Winter."

Maka Albarn had respected the stories, don't get her wrong. She knew every one practically by heart as well. Winter gods and Summer gods and all of it. But she had never suspected any of it being so completely….real. Rather, she just never spent the time worrying too much about it. She blew her curses to them and liked to blame the world's misfortune on Summer and Winter and the Moon who wouldn't intervene.

But…a Winter being sitting next to her in the shade and eating her apple?

It gives her a headache just thinking about it.

"Wha-? How is that even-? Yo-You're joking!" She splutters indignantly.

Teeth like white arrowheads jaggedly gleam at her. "Nope."

And so she proceeds with the next logical question.

"What's your name?"

Either he takes offense to her easy-acceptance and believes it a sign of disbelief or he is disappointed she doesn't run for the hills in meeting a Winter capable of killing her entire village because he immediately pouts. He glances away and spits the oddest name she's ever heard.

"…Your name is Snow Eater? Seriously?"

"Yes! What of it?"

She laughs uproariously. "It's ridiculous, that's what! Who names their kid Snow Eater?"

He is somewhat gracious and only shoves her lightly after she chortles for a couple of minutes and won't stop.

"I'm sorry. I just can't take you seriously with a name like that. Have any nicknames?"

Snow Eater sighs with hair as white as his name and growls, "Soul. You can call me Soul, I guess. If that'll make you stop laughing. I mean that's merely the translation. It sounds better in my language, I swear."

"Okay, Soul. I like that. And I believe you." He blushes at her comment, ruddy cheeks turning the pale pink of a cold sunrise, but launches into an exhaustive tale that has Maka still as the trees during the darkest parts of Winter. A tale concerning the loss of Spring and the feud between Winter and Summer who wanted to last forever. A tale about the Edge of the World and where the Moon touches the horizon, a place capable of bringing a new Spring supposedly and the search for an orb stolen from the Moon by bandits so long ago.

He tells her a tale of hope for Spring. And at the end she can muster only one reply.

"I want to come with you."

Because, for the first time in her life, she can feel a warmth in her bones that doesn't melt the earth and a gentle breeze across her heart that doesn't destroy with icy breath.

She feels what she imagines is Spring. And she can imagine and wait for it no longer.

Maka will find it herself if she must.


	2. in the time of the invincible summer

_in the time of the invincible summer_

It had taken quite an effort to talk Soul into allowing her to accompany him on his wanderings.

"Do you even know where to look? Where have you searched already? Are you sure you haven't missed it?" She had asked.

His answers were not the most promising.

"The Edge of the world, which is at the end of the World Forest. I've searched everywhere before here. And yes, I'm sure."

"How are you sure?"

He had growled and gnashed his teeth in frustration. "There's more than just one of us looking you know. Not all of Winter want the world to remain out of balance like this. Not all of us want it to end with ice and cold." Soul had paused to gnaw lightly on a fingernail. "We believe Spring _wants_ to be found. So it won't be missed. It's really a matter of waiting for it to come to us. To be found. So that's why we wander. Wanderers must wander and searchers will find."

"Well it hasn't been found in my lifetime, so obviously that can't be true," She had huffed and complained. "And it's a good thing I'm going with you because that is a terrible philosophy. Things don't just," She had thrown up hands emphatically, " _come_ to you. You have to _find_ them. That's what searching means! Plus what if Spring is _hiding_ from Summer and Winter. I mean, they disrupted the Seasons in the first place and-"

"Oh my gods, I swear I will freeze you and send your frozen corpse packing if you don't shut _up_."

Conversation became a rare novelty after that and Maka has taken to stewing in furious silence. Perhaps Winter beings are immune to the cold shoulder, but hell, she'll try it anyway.

Silence isn't particularly her favorite thing though because it leads to loads of thinking. She thinks back to how hard it was telling her father, her friends, her _family_ that she was leaving possibly (most likely) never to return. She wonders for hours on end whether she had included the special way to dig the holes in the red sand that would let the corn stalks grow tall and produce more cobs than they normally would in her lists of information or whether Winter will strike too soon and she'll return home to a village full of death. It is painful and irritating, focusing on so many negative things but try as she might Maka can't stop.

The only reprieve she gets is from studying the new environment around her.

The World Forest, legends say, used to cover the entire world from where the Sun Touches the Horizon to where the Moon Touches. It covered the mountains, the fields, and even supposedly descended into the salt water lakes that went farther than the eye could see, some claimed which had no end. Now, in Maka's lifetime, there are parts where the Forest ends abruptly to make way for plains, lakes, mountains, and the like. But for the most part, the World Forest still connects the earth from one end to the other and exists as a mostly uncharted phenomenon.

Yet man had breached it at one point and some of the Forest had been mapped and given roads. Maka remembers stories the elders of her village told about towns and other villages existing in the less dense areas of the Forest and of a pink stoned road and a yellow stoned road and a blue stoned road and many more roads that could lead you from one place to another, if one was wise enough to stay on the path!

Evidently, Seasonal beings do not have the same fears humans do. Or at least they don't have the fear of getting lost.

At first, Soul led her to a path not far from the Forest's edge made of jagged coral rocks somehow thrown together to make an alarmingly rugged jigsaw walkway. Maka trips frequently on the beaten road while Soul sniggers loudly and somehow effortlessly glides, feet hardly touching the ground. She tries not to be bothered by some of his abnormal attributes like the smooth way he moves and how he never sweats no matter how hot it gets and how when she looks into his eyes she saw no reflection of light. It is unsettling to say the least but the Snow Eater has only been kind to her. And his journey to find Spring…well, that isn't a very bad agenda.

But when he abruptly turns off the path one day without a word to Maka and starts marching aimlessly deeper into the Forest she can't help but wonder if it is wise traveling alone with a Season, a male Winter at that.

She squashes the memory of horror stories told around campfires where Summer liked melting skin off people's bones and Winter enjoyed choking the life out of young girls and plunges into the foliage behind him.

Not without questions though.

"Wait, Soul! Where are we going?"

"We're not really _going_ anywhere. I'm a wanderer, remember?"

She grimaces and chews on her chapped pink bottom lip. She doesn't like the sound of that.

"Yeah…right. Wandering. About that. Shouldn't we have some sort of destination? Wouldn't that make things easier?"

He gives a noncommittal grunt and proceeds deeper and deeper into the World Forest. Maka glances backwards and her heart starts to pound. _Thump thump thump._ The sunlight and open world stretched out behind them is becoming less and less visible the farther they move away from the path. The trees grow taller, darker, their branches and roots tangling and weaving together.

She feels like she is walking into a spider's web.

And stops.

Soul seems to notice she is no longer following and an autumn eye peeks over his shoulder to watch her shaking body, arms folded across her chest as if she is trying to keep each ragged breath from escaping her lips. They stand there for a moment, her more frightened than she cares to admit and him steady, unwavering…inhuman. Maka has always been the brave one. Always. But this is the unknown. The Unknown. Suddenly she imagines herself as a child play-pretending to go on an adventure, not wholly realizing the dangers of real life quests.

What, dear gods, _is she thinking?_

Soul stares, eyes soaking in the light, emotionless and does not move. Does not turn to face her or take a step back towards her. And Maka has the overwhelming urge to scream because it is only then that she recalls she doesn't know how to go back home and this Winter being would not care about leaving her stranded out here, hungry, scared, and alone.

Then he sighs and massages his temples…and lazily walks to her side.

"What's the matter, fearless human?" He grins sheepishly at her. "Weren't you suppose to find Spring? Save the world? Any of that ring a bell?"

Maka can't respond to that as a wave of shame descends over her. Is she truly all talk and no action?

There is no sound but the slowing of her breathing and a distant breeze overhead rattling the tree branches for a bit.

Until Soul speaks again.

"I'm not going to say I'm happy you're accompanying me. You're slow and noisy and human. Which makes you breakable and fragile and stuff. But I will say that you're smart. You have guts obviously. How many humans do you know that sit down and have a chat with Winter rather than running the other direction?" He chuckles momentarily and his grin directed at her grows. "Come on, Maka. I have a destination in mind. Sorry if I'm not good at communicating but I'm not leading us nowhere. I'm just…not use to having a partner. So give me some time, yeah?"

She blinks in awe and a warmth spreads through her chest as he shrugs and blushes, incredibly embarrassed at the smile she replies to his grin with.

When Soul plunges forth once more into the Forest he doesn't look back to see if she is coming. And she doesn't pause for a moment when stepping off the path.

That day there is a certain change between the two of them. From then on, conversation is frequent and laughter is, too.

It is the first time he refers to her by name. The first time he has actually called her his partner.

* * *

They come across a village next to a checkered road layered with alternating black and white crystal shards a week after tromping headlong into the World Forest. Soul doesn't even hide his smile.

"Told you I had an idea of where we're going. First stop is more supplies here. A proper trading village."

Maka chooses to pretend she doesn't hear him rather than honor his rightfulness with a reply or the personal dig at her village.

It is quaint and smaller than Maka's home, a collection of decent-sized cabins probably able to fit several families, a small granary and pantry, and a large barn in the center used as a gathering place of sorts. It's heavy wooden doors are open wide, light, laughter and muted voices spilling out from inside.

From out of nowhere, Soul produces a tan cloak and draws the hood over his snowy hair, head down and unrecognizable. When Maka questions him with a look he mumbles, "Most don't accept Winters as easily as you do, Maka."

She wants to retort but knows that if she hadn't sat and talked with Soul for a bit, thinking him a human like herself, she probably wouldn't have reacted as kindly as she did when learning the truth. After all, Winter and Summer and their pathetic war is causing the world to spiral out of balance.

The blonde waits patiently for her partner to cover himself properly, only moving forward after he nods. Laughter dies when they step into the barn, tables and chairs scattered from wall to wall. Half are occupied by women, children, elders and an alarmingly small handful of men. The townspeople stare at the intruders with hard eyes and Maka notices that those who aren't glancing in their direction shift in their seats, discreetly grabbing weapons no doubt.

A hardened world brewed hardened people and though Maka has never witnessed bandits attacking her own remote village she knew the stories of when they had in the past. She does not blame this village for treating their intrusion with caution and distrust.

But it does make her a tad more nervous than she expected. She distantly recalls the blade Soul had traded her stashed somewhere in her pack. If it comes down to a fight, what will they do?

Hoping Soul has considered the possibilities and harbors a plan, she clears her throat and says the words he suggested as confidently as she can.

"Good evening. We are not here to cause trouble. We merely wish for room and board for a night. We are willing to negotiate payment."

Silence greets her and even though the air is much cooler in the shaded barn than underneath the merciless Summer sunlight she finds she is sweating more than when outside. Maka dabs at her forehead as a woman with grey hair whispers into the whiskered ears of a muscular dark-skinned man, eyes dark and frosty like a Winter storm. While Maka and Soul stand in the entrance waiting for their answer she meets the bright eyes of a thin young girl in the corner, black curly hair pulled to either side of her neck. Her tiny pink lips are puckered as she bounces lightly in her seat and it looks like she is holding back a smile.

Maka finds herself grinning just from the girl's pent up enthusiasm.

After minutes of deliberating, the older lady gestures for Soul and her to sit at a table slightly off to the side and close to the doors. The woman joins them shortly after and begins inquiring about payment. As instructed beforehand, Maka provides the icicle lookalike object Soul had tried pawning off to her for apples. Unlike Maka, this woman takes the ice stick eagerly and gratefully shakes her hand, reaching for Soul's but noticing his quiet, withdrawn behavior and thinking better of it.

The hostess introduces herself to Maka, ignoring Soul altogether. Once the niceties are out of the way she suddenly shouts, "Tsugumi!" which elicits a startled jump from Maka.

The pigtailed girl shoots from her seat and to the elder's side in a flash, almost as if she had been expecting the command.

"This is Tsugumi," Their hostess says. "She will take care of all your needs while you stay here. At sundown she will grab bedrolls for the two of you and you may rest in here for the night." She then claps her hands twice and with a quick bark, the other women, children and elderly sidle off after her, most likely returning to the day's chores and tasks of which, Maka knows, there are many.

Tsugumi, Maka quickly discovers, is incredibly skilled at talking rapidly and animatedly. Her delicate, bony hands fly in every direction as she tells Maka what they can eat, what her village is like, how her father and the rest of the men and women are off hunting, and so much more.

"Hunting?" Maka asks, because she doesn't think she's ever heard the word before.

"Oh you know, hunting! When they go and kill something and bring the food back?" Tsugumi peers carefully at the blonde's scrunched nose and gasps. "You don't hunt?"

"No! There's hardly any wildlife on the sand around my village and we certainly don't _eat_ any of it! Is that sanitary?"

As she tries to wrap her head around Tsugumi's descriptions of meat and what it tastes like, she feels Soul shaking to her left and swiflty sends an elbow straight to his rib cage, knowing somehow that he is laughing at her. He suddenly doubles over and Tsugumi shrieks, but Maka waves it off with a cheeky smile.

"Go on." She prods and she's beginning to see it doesn't take too much prodding to get Tsugumi talking again. The little girl is a babbling brook, always running never stopping, and Maka is profoundly grateful for it. Their easy-going discussion makes it less obvious that Soul is a mute hooded shadow or, at least, less menacing.

Tsugumi chatters, with brief pauses for Maka's input, as the light and heat flooding the barn slowly shortens until the group from earlier hobble inside, lit candles the new source as the sun sets. Maka stretches and yawns noisily, neck cracking and back aching from all the horrid sleeping on the ground and against trees during the nights she and Soul traveled. When Tsugumi rushes to get their bedrolls, a sigh of relief sneaks past her closed lips.

She peeks to her right where Soul is still motionless at her side. She can't see them, but she carries the weight of eyes red like the apples he stole.

With directions from the crone and the dark-skinned man, who Maka from observing learns is named Sid, Tsugumi grabs Soul and Maka a small portioning of nuts, berries, fruits, and a blackened thing that the girl eagerly explains is dried meat.

"We smoke it, hang it up, and then store it for the Winter! Luckily Summer came fast and we have some left over now to eat while the hunters go get some more. But," The girl settles at their table again, a small serving for herself with her. "We have to have our harvest early now because the Dry Dust comes with Summer and it kills _everything_."

"What's the Dry Dust?" Maka asks as she examines the so-called meat. Soul, she notices, has no problem tearing it into pieces. They disappear into his hidden mouth under the hood so she thinks it can't be too bad.

"The Dry Dust is this wind Summer brings and it's really hot and heavy and it burns your eyes. When it comes it takes weeks for it to go away and by then all the crops are dead."

"Huh," Maka murmurs, slowly choking on the tiny piece of "meat" she put in her mouth. She spits it out with such force that her hat falls to the ground and her blonde hair spills past her shoulders.

Soul gasps, "I didn't know you had that much hair!" and Maka and Tsugumi are so startled by his outburst that an awkward moment settles over them. Tsugumi, bless her heart, laughs, which Maka is grateful for, and asserts that she didn't either! She assumed Maka's hair was short rather than piled underneath her hat.

"You have such pretty hair." Tsugumi gently runs her fingers through the silver wheat strands, untangling knots and snags while admiring the glow they take in the flickering candlelight. "Can I put your hair like mine? It'll keep your neck cool like putting it under your hat but then people will see how lovely it is?"

Maka is uncertain at first, but Tsugumi's pleading and pouting works. She agrees with a roll of her eyes and allows the girl to style the thing that reminded her most of her mother.

When the villagers leave that night to sleep in their own cabins, Soul removes his hood and lays out their bedrolls near the back wall. Unlike their nights in the forest, he lays down next to her and a certain gleam tells her not to question it aloud though he can't stop her from wondering within the confines of her own mind.

She settles in for sleep and right before she passes out she hears him speak, somber and low.

"She did you a favor, that girl. Your hair is the color of daffodils and it frames your face well. Makes the green of your eyes stronger. Makes you look more beautiful."

She thinks she should pretend sleep, but curiosity gets the better of her. "What are daffodils?"

He doesn't answer for the longest time and she fidgets to get comfortable and fall asleep again when she hears the whisper.

"Spring's flower."

* * *

They are suppose to leave the next day but Maka has other ideas.

"We should help them with the harvest! They don't have very many people, Soul, with their strongest out hunting."

Soul is adamant in his refusal. "Absolutely not. We don't have time for that. Or," He sidles up close to whisper in her ear as if he is worried someone might overhear even though the barn is still empty in the predawn light. "have you forgotten what we're searching for?"

"Oh! So _now_ we're searching for it?" Maka crosses her arms across her chest with a pout. "A few days ago you were singing a different tune." Her voice deepens in her efforts at mocking him. " _Spring wants to be found. Wanderers must_ wander _and searchers will find_. Well, if we're just wandering our way through the World Forest then resting here for a day or two and helping with the harvest shouldn't matter!"

The sunrise-eyed Winter splutters and spouts words too foreign and too fast for Maka to understand, though from his tone she guesses they're curses. One of the sounds that spills from his lips sounds exactly like a frozen lake cracking underneath her feet and the young woman jumps and jerks her head down with her heart pounding in her throat before realizing it came from him. She is angry and furious but also frightened because it dawns on her that Soul may not be telling her everything. From the beginning he has been an odd mixture of easygoing and desperately focused. A paradox of _we must wander_ but at the same time _we must go, we must find_. He has some direction and plan she supposes, but a couple of days isn't too important, is it?

She can't tell what his ire means but she feels in her gut she's missing a vital piece of information. Or rather he is withholding it.

He meets her confused eyes with a stern glare. "I'll leave if you stay."

It's possibly the worst thing he could ever say to her. But she sees a wavering in his eyes, dying leaves not ready to fall to the ground yet. She raises her chin high and challenges him.

"No you won't."

Many things pass between them in those quiet minutes after and, for a moment, she fears she went too far and had guessed wrong. She supposes she could stay here with Tsugumi and Sid and the elder woman who wouldn't ever share her name until she figures out how to return home. That would give her plenty of time to help with the harvest and maybe learn a thing or two about hunting to bring back to her people.

Yet in her heart she falters because Maka _knows_ she should be searching for Spring. Not running back home to wait and hope Soul finds it.

Eventually he breaks their staring contest and sighs heavily, head bowed and fingers tiredly tugging on the ends of his hair.

"Fine. One day. We leave on the morrow." His reds flash upwards suddenly to meet her gaze again and they are solid and strong. Red stones instead of liquid light in the clouds or leaves crumbling to dust.

"If you're not ready by sunrise I _will_ leave without you."

She nods slowly and watches him pull his tan cloak on and the hood over his head obscuring his irritated face from her. He walks out with a half-stomp, half-slump in his stride as if he can't decide if he hates her or if she just wears him out.

His words ring in her ears and this time she believes him.

It isn't long until the rest of the village wakes and meets to dine in the barn. Harvests, Maka knows all too well, call for early risers. Maka spots Tsugumi's signature black curls and isn't surprised to see them rushing with a force towards her. The little girl squeals with delight when she notices Maka's hair is still hanging in tails even though her hat is back on her blonde head. When she questions the hat and Maka explains her intentions the younger somehow squeals louder and higher.

The others are a bit more nervous when Maka offers to help. Eventually Sid grins and welcomes her warmly while the old matron stares with tight eyes and a passive expression. Their tools, they discover, Maka is accustomed to and after a brief hike through rocky terrain and hills rising aimlessly out of the forest they reach surprisingly fertile ground. There's a break in the forest with a patch of rich brown earth and a little pond off to the side. A delicate stream weaves through the roots of trees, joins the pond, and spans out wider than before to tangle itself with the trees again. Tsugumi tells her it's the little brother of the legendary Shibu river that runs through the World Forest to the world's end.

Despite the small area the vegetables and fruits simmering in the heat are decently sized and Maka is shocked and pleasantly surprised to see how well along this village will be.

The work is hard under Summer's fierce gaze. The shadows from the trees laugh at them, disappearing shortly after one tries to rest underneath them as the sun rises higher and higher, its rays reaching forth like leeches to suck the water from the earth, the trees, their bodies, anything that lives. Summer is in full swing and with the shade Maka swears the sun cackles overhead as well, free to spread Summer's wrath and ruin over the world at its leisure.

But Tsugumi and the others smile despite the sweat glazing their foreheads and dripping down their necks. The black haired girl points out flowers to Maka that she swears would not exist without the sun's overwhelming presence. They smell like warm things and remind Maka of freshly baked bread or melting honey or even the strange freshness in the air that only comes after a Summer sun has set. The younger girls braid them into flower crowns and set them atop Maka's head.

She doesn't remember laughing this hard in a long time.

Later, after the shadows are longer, the goods are primarily harvested, and Summer heat still clings to their skin, many of the villagers remove their clothing and remain in undergarments. At first, Maka is nervous and embarrassed to be surrounded by almost naked people. It is weird and absurd in her mind for someone to be that open in front of others and she doesn't understand why the majority of the townspeople are participating.

And then, almost simultaneously as if the villagers are of one body and one mind, they run for the small pond and jump into the water, splashing and yelling words of joy.

Maka watches for a bit, content with sitting in the shade and observing the happiness of the people. She wonders not for the first time if her people would find such joys in their land of red sand. Are there things in that desert she missed with the potential of making Summer more bearable for them? Have they become so bitter over the Seasons that they have forgotten such an important part of life?

Will bringing Spring back change their outlooks? Or will it only make surviving easier? Is the damage from the Wars irreparable? Or worse….

What if she returns empty-handed with nothing but a more positive feeling toward Summer than before?

Maka doesn't know what that would do. She hasn't thought much on returning without the promise of Spring. She refuses to consider her pleas for her people to wait for Spring were in vain.

Her heart no longer hates Summer as much as it once did but it continues to curse the vile Season that brings so much death. The world needs balance. Her people…these people were suffering because of Summer and Winter's war.

She clenches a fist and pounds the hard-packed earth, worn from being cracked by Summer and frozen by Winter, with determination.

Maka _will_ bring back Spring.

But now, as Maka sees Tsugumi and Sid and even the older woman relax in the pond and drink in the sunlight, she thinks she realizes Summer has a place in the world, too.

She never does enter the water, though she is seriously considering, when Soul silently sidles up next to her, a gentle hand on her shoulder her so-called "warning." She practically screeches but is quick to realize it is her parter returned from wherever he has been all day.

"Where have you been?" She questions with wide eyes and an angry hiss. He is not totally taken aback by her irritation, guessing what her mind had feared, and raises one winter eyebrow placidly.

"Did you really have such little faith in me? Think I would skip out before the day was done?"

The blonde blushes but refuses to reply, choosing instead to lower her hat over her eyes. He chuckles slightly, sharp teeth flashing in the sun's dying rays as they slip through the tree branches, and Maka quietly notices that in the days she has known him he already seems more open in his emotions.

His ease is short-lived, however, and he quickly motions her to follow him.

"We should gather our things and leave now while the village is empty. Their hunters are returning and their leader will not take kindly to our presence, I assure you. Besides, I've been spying on them and have a clue that may help in our search."

"Spying on them? How? If you've been watching them make their way to the village how did you get there and back before them?"

The Snow Eater grins and not entirely pleasantly.

"I'm a Winter wind, Maka. I am faster than the cold blade, quicker than the blizzard freezes water. I can at least out maneuver and out do a couple of tired humans."

He motions once more for her to get up and follow him, but Maka pauses for a final look at the village she insisted aiding. She softly smiles when her eyes land on Tsugumi, a sweet girl who found and shared her appreciation for Summer. Then, she hastily becomes Soul's ungainly shadow.

She is not as fast or surefooted as the Winter so it takes longer than he anticipated for them to return to the village. He asks her how much provisions they have left and how long will they last. She deduces they have two weeks tops and Soul instructs her to gather enough to add two more weeks on top of that. Not entirely okay with taking items and food without asking, Soul fiercely reminds her that they paid for this and, if it makes her feel better, he will leave another Irrigator behind.

They disappear into the forest underneath a red Summer sunset with nothing but Maka's straw hat and Soul's Winter magic on a table in the barn for the villagers to find.

* * *

"How much farther, Soul?" Maka pants, trying her hardest not to whine. After being under Summer's thumb for the majority of the day doing hard, manual labor, the human woman is exhausted and ready to rest her head for the night. Her back and strong legs ache and, though the Sun is hidden underneath the world, the Summer heat refuses to relent.

The Winter leading her deeper into the World Forest has nothing but bright Summer stars and the colossal, glowing Moon to guide him.

"Not far. The hunters mentioned the caves were frightfully close to the village."

"Yes, well, I know you _must've_ answered me the last time I asked," Maka says with a bite in her words, sarcasm thick and dripping from every syllable, "but you should tell me again…why are we hiking out to forgotten caves in the middle of the night instead of, oh, I don't know, resting, perhaps?"

"They hold a clue." Soul snarkily murmurs. He whirls around to gaze at her with reflective red eyes that make Maka imagine wolves or bears or other Winter creatures who emerge from cold darkness. "And I believe I have said that before."

"You said it…but you didn't explain it!"

"Hush!" He cuts her off and slaps a hand over her mouth before she has a chance to retort. "I can't...find it."

Maka huffs and eventually persuades the Winter to rest for a minute and consider where they are headed in the middle of the night. He fumes at the prospect of being lost, a thing she truly believes they _are_ when a bizarre tug in her stomach claims her attention. She feels...cooler somehow, despite a prick of heat rising in her abdomen. She stands abruptly and heads in a certain direction, Soul hastily scrambling after her full of questions, when she suddenly stops.

Maka's eyes take in her surroundings. There's a lit void in the forest much like the clearing that held the village's fertile soil and refreshing pond but instead there are giant holes and mountains of rocks larger than any barn or house Maka has ever seen. The caves appear out of place in the middle of the forest while at the same time giving off an ominous, mysterious aura similar to the dark woods around them. They belong, but also do not belong. They are of the World Forest, but they are also of something else entirely. She spots seven yawning caverns near her and Soul with nothing but darkness in them, as if their mouths hold nothing but pools of ink. The Moon's light shines down on the stacked boulders in the clearing but does not touch the night they carry within.

But from off to the side, within an eighth cave, there burns a bright blue light coming closer and closer to the opening.

Soul squeezes Maka's elbow and leans close, so close her eyes cross trying to keep an eye on him. He pauses right in front of her face, his nose touching hers.

"Stay here," He breathes. A chill spreads from where his skin and hers meet and it travels down her spine to the tips of her toes like cold water spilling down her back from a Winter bath. When he moves away, she finds that she can't move at all.

 _Soul!_ She wants to shout, but she can't. Her lips are frozen in their tight-lipped position and her face in wordless shock from him approaching so near to her. Her fingers are stiff and unresponsive and her feet are blocks of ice, heavy and unable to go anywhere. Despite her fear and the natural reaction to hyperventilate, her breathing is even and calm.

Maka can only look on helplessly as Soul removes his curved blade and sets it on a black ice shaft he creates from the palm of his hand. He steps into the moonlit clearing confidently and when the blue light gets brighter to the point where it blinds Maka, the onlooker, he sets himself in a defensive position.

A yell breaks the night silence and Maka cannot detect its origin. It is a shout that reverberates in her ears and causes her heart to pound though her muscles remain locked. The blue light materializes out of the inky blackness of the cave and becomes the shifting silhouette of a person or a shooting star.

She does not know which.

"YAHOOOOOO!"

And the light slams into the Snow Eater.

Soul grits his teeth, she can see the serrated blades fold and grind together, as his Winter blade attempts to defend the blue energy from hitting him. His bare feet are pushed into the dirt as he refuses to give into the might of whatever pounds against him.

It occurs to Maka suddenly that perhaps she has entered a game with powers too great for her to comprehend. She does not want to wait for Spring but as she watches Soul fend off whatever the hell came from the cave she thinks she may not have the strength to _find_ Spring.

Finally, Soul manages to push the light away with a gruff _ugh,_ his blade narrowly missing its target and swinging through the air with a metallic hiss. The light blazes backwards and zooms around the clearing like some comet that fell to earth and cannot find its way back to the sky. The comet lookalike ends up slowing and stilling and vibrating into the shape of a person with hair shining blue like it is made entirely of the night sky above them.

He, or at least it seems male from Maka's vantage point, lands gracefully on top of a boulder and crosses his arm, a constant glow emanating around him. He smirks as he looks down on Soul below him and throws his head back to cackle carelessly. He reminds Maka of a mischievous young boy from her village with the energy and enthusiasm that only a child can have.

"WINTER!" He shouts with an emphatic point in Soul's direction. "DO YOU DARE FOLLOW ME ON MY QUEST AND CHALLENGE _ME_ WHILE SUMMER RULES?"

Soul wipes his nose and tsks at the Other while giving him a wide, self-assured grin.

"You bet your ass I do! I got some questions and I bet you have some answers, Summer!"

Maka wants to gasp…but can't because of her frozen state. She fixes her eyes on the Summer and takes note of the healthy warm color of his skin and the tiny heat waves that stir the air around him. She imagines he is hotter than the Summer sun and when her eyes flicker back to the pale, white-haired Soul her stomach drops to her knees.

"WINTER!" The Summer yells and Maka begins to wonder if he knows how to speak otherwise. "I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE! I WILL BURN YOU TO ASHES WITH MY AWESOME LIGHT!"

And, as if the Sun itself decided to descend from the heavens, the Summer becomes a flaming blue ball hurtling straight for Soul and his Winter scythe.

Maka's panic rises and with it, an unfamiliar warmth. It originally settles around her quickening heartbeat and flutters in her core but eventually it, like the tiny roots of a tree, spread out in thin tendrils until it touches every essence of her body.

She wants to help Soul. Save her partner. She _must_ do so!

How else will she find Spring?

Without any indication, without any other thought or pause, Maka rushes forward, the ice from within melting purely from her desire for it to. In fact, she feels, as she runs full speed ahead and emerges from the trees, as if she's never known the cold before.

"STOP!" She hollers as loudly as she can. "SUMMER! Please STOP!"

Soul glances at her with huge, frightened eyes, his mouth in the middle of forming what Maka is sure is some form of the word 'no' and probably some curse words. The blue ball faces her direction, if one could call it that, and slows until the Summer being lands on the ground with a heatwave that knocks Maka to her knees and Soul back a few steps. He can now physically fix his eyes on the almost battle's intruder.

"Human?" Ah, Maka thinks, he _can_ converse at a decent sound level. "What are you doing here, human?"

Green galaxies appraise her and a smoldering hand offers her assistance though Soul growls from the side for him to not dare touching her. With a comfort she didn't think she felt, Maka grasps his hand, the smooth warmth slightly overwhelming but not entirely unpleasant. She grins warily at him, still unsure of how Seasons will treat her considering their constant warring kills so many of her kind.

The Summer stares with an almost innocent curiosity at her and, though Maka can't dispel the idea that she is more mature than him, she tries to remind herself he is probably centuries older than her.

"Summer, please do not hurt Soul. He is my traveling companion. My partner."

The Summer suddenly throws his head back with laughter and Maka can't help but shield her eyes with a hand as the being's joy makes his aura of light shine brighter.

"I've never heard of a Season and a human before! That's hilarious! Ba ha ha!"

Maka turns red violently and begins yelling things like "NO!" and "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" and "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG IDEA" while Soul starts making ice-cracking sounds again. The Summer must understand what he is saying because his head snaps to the Winter's direction and he frowns, the light simmering down to nothing more than a candle flickering against the darkness.

"How dare you say such things to Vega, the Summer Star, you worthless Winter whelp! I'll pound you into snow flurries if you don't show me some respect!"

Soul pales and hastily maneuvers himself between the proclaimed Star and Maka, scythe held up protectively while the human girl gasps.

"You're Vega? As in The Black Star?"

The Black Star's mood, Maka notices, changes faster than the Seasons do. He smiles and his spotlight grows behind him as he beams at Maka.

"Yes, yes! I'm the Black Star! You've heard of me, have you? Not surprising since I'm the best Summer Star in the world!" He proceeds to howl another "YAHOOOOOO!" up to the Moon. Maka pities the whole world at the moment, no doubt waking from his volume. Everyone must be able to hear him.

Maka cringes but there's a stirring in her gut as she realizes something the Summer said. She gingerly pushes Soul's arms out of the way and steps near the Black Star, giving her confused and irritated partner a placating glance. She mouths that she knows what she's doing and allows the Black Star her full attention.

"I'm sorry, Black Star, for us intruding on your area. Soul and I are on a journey-"

"Maka, no!" Her partner interrupts furiously. Arms moving to hide her behind them once more. She raises a hand and begs him to wait.

"Hold on, Soul. I've got this. Ehem-We are on a journey to find Spring."

Maka holds her breath and waits. Soul said not all Winters wanted the world out of balance and the Summer mentioned a quest. Perhaps the Summers didn't want the world without Spring either?

She boldly stands before the Summer and patiently awaits his judgement. Meanwhile she tries to come to terms with the risk she has taken. She may have, she fears, ruined their entire mission.

But a tendril of assurance tickles her forehead and causes her to smile warmly at the Summer.

And the Summer warmly returns her smile.

"AH! THAT IS WONDERFUL! I, too, am in the business of searching for Spring! I will continue my search with the two of you! Thank you for your praise! I know that you would never find Spring without the Black Star's aid so I will join your pathetic team! Your gratitude is appreciated but ultimately unnecessary! The Black Star already knows how awesome he is!"

Maka's smile slips neatly off her face and she turns whiter than Soul's hair. Behind her she hears a thud as Soul's blade falls to the ground and a painful groan.

"Wait! No, Black Star I didn't mean-"

"Really, puny human, you do not need to beg! I will come!"

"But, you see, Black Star, I didn't ask for you to-"

"Too much thanks will get on the Black Star's nerves peasant and you do not want that, do you?"

"Well, no, but-"

"NONSENSE! ENOUGH CHITTER CHATTER! Let us be on our way! Follow the Black Star! He knows best!"

Maka's moans harmonize with Soul's in a truly agonized symphony. They proceed to literally follow the light and hurry in Black Star's steps back into the not-so-dark forest anymore. Praying beyond hope that the vain Summer Star actually knows where he is going.

Soul glowers darkly at Maka and mutters irately to himself.

"First a human and now this? Pssh. Vega from Lyra? Yeah, right. More likely from Pavo or Taurus."


	3. in the time of the winter flower

_in the time of the winter flower_

Traveling with the Black Star, while rewarding in some ways, proved difficult overall.

The Summer star didn't care to be quiet, assuring them the whole world longed to hear his voice at all times, and didn't take well to resting. He is a constant ball of starlight, hard to contain and uncatchable by human hands. Maka wonders if he'd be calmer in the sky, but, apparently, his glory was too great to share with the others up there.

His advantages and the threat of his wrath keep Maka and the Soul Eater from shooing him away though.

It is Black Star's idea to travel during the night in order to remain cooler. They cover more ground this way since the heat, though still overwhelming, isn't quite as unbearable once the Sun has set. They traverse the forests with the Summer's light and the Moon guiding them. He also happens to have a knack for finding hidden places, usually with water and sometimes berries. It takes a while for Maka to grow accustomed to sleeping while the jeering Sun sits overhead, but eventually she assimilates and feels all the better for it.

During their walk, Soul prefers to lead, claiming he knows best where to search for Spring. The Star and the Winter fight arduously over the matter and, more often than not, the group finds themselves at a crossroads, arguing over which way is the "better" direction or the way "more likely" to locate Spring. It drives Maka bonkers, mostly because the one thing they agree on is she, as a human, has no say in the matter.

What they don't notice is that Maka is the one who usually picks their path. Once her frustration has peaked, she tends to get up and start walking and they, so caught up in their debate, end up following without complaint. She's not sure if it's the smartest strategy, but something in her heart tells her she'll find what she's looking for.

Ironically, it is the descent of Summer that leads the two towards cooperation and camaraderie.

It is sudden, as the changing of Seasons has been for decades, when Winter comes calling. One morning the group stops to rest and the sun is irritatingly bright overhead. When they wake to continue their journey in the night, they are greeted by a bitter, bone-chilling wind. It howls and pulls at Maka's feet. She trips several times as she gets to her feet and starts moving for blood flow. She knows, too well in fact, the damage of being still once Winter sets in.

Black Star produces his own light and heat, so, though the cold angers him because of its implications in the war, it doesn't physically harm him. Soul, being a Winter spirit, actually seems way more comfortable with the freezing air.

The temperature drops lower and lower until everything is painted shades of gray, white, or blue. Even the tree leaves are leached of all color. A precious few turned red and orange and yellow before the true cold set in, but most were frozen in place, as if time stopped.

Winter always has that effect in Maka's mind. The world becomes so still…everything touched breaks because the cold doesn't care to keep things together. The beauty of it all is somehow worse. Like rubbing salt in a wound. She can't help but admire the way the ice crawls up the tree trunks in dazzling designs, like undead ivy, or how the leaves sound like silver bells when a breeze blows through.

Unfortunately, since Maka doesn't have supernatural powers, her health declines and, with it, their pace. They find themselves covering less and less ground as Maka's cough grows worse and worse. Black Star and Soul practically pile clothing on top of her thin body, trying with all their might to keep the shivering girl warm. It helps, but it's not the best solution. They attempt a fire, but Black Star, so full of energy, nearly blows their faces off. Soul mentions building it the "natural" way, but even that plan fails.

So they plod onwards. Hoping that either Summer shows itself again soon or that they come across decent shelter. But even Summer was becoming risky…they were falling low on water, a necessity, Maka bitterly reminds them, for her at least.

Their worried expressions bother her more than the constant cold does. She's a tough one, she tells them. She'll be alright. She has to find Spring. For her village. For her father. For the world. For her mother.

It dawns on her, albeit sluggishly as if from a far away mountaintop, the colder it gets the less sound her mind is. Maka barely speaks and when she does the words are heavy burdens in her mouth, shiny, cold pebbles that fall off the end of her tongue in barely recognizable syllables. This is when Soul and Black Star stop arguing, both too focused on aiding their fragile human companion in survival.

The town they come across is a yellow miracle. Colors that Winter strips away from the world, red, orange, and most prominently, yellow flicker like fireflies behind Maka's tired eyes.

She remembers her mother's hair was yellow. Not silvery, or faint like hers is, but a bright _yellow._ A gold that could rival the sun.

The feeble woman wonders where her mother is now…what she would think of Maka going out to look for Spring. She wonders if her Papa is doing okay. He gets terrible wracking coughs like she does. His are usually worse than hers, actually.

She has to find Spring. She has to find balance. She has to stop falling into the brittle earth. The ground feels like quicksand the closer she gets to the village and she's vaguely frustrated by that darned rattling sound echoing in her ears. Moments later, once the pain in her chest becomes unbearable, she comes to the conclusion the rattling is her own breath being pried from her lungs seemingly by strength of willpower. The cold has settled inside of her, she thinks, and it's freezing the very air that would give her life.

Maka stumbles and is caught by two sturdy hands, one so warm it burns and the other a gentle breeze, cool and crisp. She doesn't know how but she is _dragged_ to the doorstep of a cherry red log cabin. Thin, but strong hands rap twice on the wood and Maka remembers she's not alone.

She faints the second the door opens and the warmth and smell of a crackling hearth washes over her.

In her sleep, she dreams of her mother and of a glowing green sphere spilling freshness into the air and of her and Soul facing each other, arms clasped.

 _His eyes are Autumn fire._

* * *

According to Soul, she sleeps for a long, long time. Black Star greets her with a laugh and the terrifying notion, though she's surprised at the carefully concealed tremble in his voice, that they thought she might never wake up.

The house owners, having a decent bit of self-preservation and fear, asks that they leave as soon as Maka is well enough. Apparently Black Star and Soul haven't been the most decent of houseguests. Maka's not really shocked. It took her a while to be comfortable around the two Seasons. Plus, how alarming would it be to open your home to a partially dead girl and two beings you never knew you existed?

Nonetheless, she recovers quickly and the young lady thanks them profusely for caring for her, as do Soul and Black Star. Soul gives them a couple of irrigators as payment and the elderly couple holds them as if they are the most precious objects known to man. Perhaps they are to this village. Maka can't remember much due to her sickly mind, but she doesn't recall a water source near here.

The wife gives Maka a peck on the cheek and allows her a heavy fur coat. It's cumbersome, but it'll keep her much warmer than Black Star's leather vest or Soul's thin cloak. The ash blonde is pleasantly startled that it fits her so well. She feels wrong taking such a gift, but as the wife directs her to a well-painted picture on the wall of a girl similar in age she understands.

The old woman smiles, wrinkles bunching on the sides of her eyes, and whispers, "I know what you seek. I know why the Seasons guide you."

Maka wants to scream at Black Star and Soul for being so careless, though honestly what can one expect? There's not many reasons one can come up with for why a human and two Seasons are traveling together. But what does she say in this situation? Yes, she's searching for Spring? Yes, she'll find it?

In the end, she takes the elder's hands and brushes her lips against them, a promise that words could not accurately speak.

They leave that night and descend into the forest like Winter shadows melting into the navy and black background.

The journey is easier afterwards. The elderly couple parted ways with some old fire-making tools, so now, as the cold blankets them each night, they have a fire to help fight its wrath. It's a comfort as well, those flames. They elevate Maka's spirits. Somehow, they make her believe Spring is truly just around the corner.

These hopes are almost squashed a couple of nights later.

Black Star and Soul are wrestling around their makeshift camp while Maka huddles near the flames, sipping water from a sheep stomach, another gift from the elderly couple. She watches with fascination as they dance with hoots and hollers. Privately, she worries about the noise, but Soul is a cautious being. If he's joining in Black Star's yelling, then it must be safe. There _are_ less and less villages for them to sneak around; more and more trees rising forth, no sight of an end to the World Forest.

The moon rises bigger and brighter every night, so Maka thinks they're getting closer to the Edge.

In the stillness, she _feels_ a whisper of something old and unknown. It reminds her of the chill in her lungs when Winter almost claimed her and the numb sensation that burns fingertips just as it freezes them a deep, dark blue. She knows, almost at once, that Soul catches the hint as well, but too late.

He snaps to attention, his scythe blade reaching, but halts at the sight of the shimmery pearlescent blade held to the Summer star's neck.

Black Star looks furious and as his wrath escalates so do the flames. They lick the muted sky, so black and alone without the Summer stars sparkling overhead, and Maka slowly backs away to prevent being burnt. Even though there's a bitter wind circling them, like the white moon is exhaling a long held breath, Maka's forehead shines with sweat.

Soul peeks over his shoulder to make a note of where she stands before slipping into a position Maka is now familiar with. Her first glimpse of it was the night they met the Black Star, though it was not her last. Watching Soul and Black Star spar with one another has taught her a couple of things. None she's put into practice, but some she's betting she could if she had to.

It's a defensive placement, his scythe practically cradled horizontal, his arms molding it into a very, strong diagonal shield. But, one quick step and a flick of the wrist creates a deadly strike. Though he'd never admit it, the blue star has trouble countering it sometimes. Maka can only hope whoever dares infringe upon two Seasons in the night has difficulty with his moves also.

The human is amazed that the quicksilver hand delicately holding the dagger and keeping the Summer at bay, a task she never expected anyone, not even Soul, to be capable of, is a woman. She's tall and lovely in a foreign, untouchable manner with flickering hair that almost bests her height, dull yet bright like black ice. Her eyes are distant, unmoved. They flash in Maka's direction and she feels paralyzed by them. It's as if the Winter night descended to the earth intent on sucking the world down into it. It makes the blonde's stomach churn and her skin burst into gooseflesh. Before she can get to frightened a gentle warmth blooms at the base of her skull and she feels more confident to glare the intruder head on.

Perhaps her eyes are not so dark as the sky…no, they're colored more similarly to the lavender of a blue ivy, Maka thinks. A beautiful plant determined to bear many, many difficult Seasons.

It's when the woman's gaze leaves Maka that things become somehow _more_ interesting.

"… _Tsubaki_?" Maka turns just in time to see Soul's face break into a sparkling smile, his scythe blade resting in his hand as the charcoal ice disintegrates at his command.

The intruder replies with an open-mouthed grin, her teeth glittering in stark contrast to her ebony hair, and a whispered word that Maka doesn't understand. She shivers at the sound and at the new kind of heat settling unusually in the back of her throat as the two Winters embrace casually.

Black Star huffs, eyes a frightening, bold green like the lights that melt the Summer sky. He is obviously displeased with a lady, and a Winter at that, besting him. He stomps towards the campfire and settles next to Maka, his heat wafting against her skin mixing with her fire within.

For once, Maka is thankful it is Winter's time. Were it Summer she would probably die from heat overdose.

The Winters continue to exchange their icy language without any indication that they realize they're being studied by the onlookers. It's a smoother syntax than Maka initially believed, never before hearing _two_ people speak it. A few words appear rough to the ears but sentences, dialog, gives a picture of clear, trickling water running underneath a solid, singing layer of ice. There's an exhilarating kind of frigidness to it and suddenly she wishes that with all the journeying she's done with Soul she had thought to ask him to teach it to her.

Maka eventually bolsters her courage and tentatively approaches the formidable Winter woman and her snowy-haired counterpart.

"Soul?"

Once again blue eyes that capture her breath and freeze it in place like she's trapped beneath the thick ice shell that covers water, catch her and hold her in a dark, cold embrace. Soul whirls around and gives a shaky smile before gingerly leading the still human girl to stand before the Winter shadow warrior.

"Maka, this is Tsubaki, a friend of mine and a friend of Spring. Tsubaki, Maka. She is a…strong and practically virulent human being. She has been surprisingly helpful in forging an alliance with the Black Star and is intent on the re-discovery of Spring."

Tsubaki gently tilts her head in an acknowledging bow and Maka feels the need to mirror the action, though she isn't capable of the same poise and grace the dark-haired girl produces. She knows her cheeks are pinking but she is beyond control of it at this moment and opts for a bright grin.

The Winter stares, navy orbs unrevealing, before she melts into a warm smile and pulls the human into a hug. In the dead of night when the cold is especially vicious Maka finds hugging Winters isn't the best solution to retaining body heat, but she thrills at the openness of the newcomer.

Black Star's introduction is, at best, less than tasteful. He pointedly turns away from Tsubaki and pouts, his aura mimicking his distaste and simmering like a candle about to burn out. The Winter doesn't seem to mind his arrogance and, to Soul and Maka's surprise, even makes an effort to apologize for almost slitting his throat as well as praise his skills.

"It was the singular reason I intervened and chose you as my target. I did not recognize," She trips over Soul's simplified name for a beat, "S-Soul, and there was a human in your party, so I assumed…" The Winter lady shakes her head and sighs, a glittering silver crystalline cloud expelled and hanging ever so slightly in the air before drifting too close to the fire and disappearing. Her softened expressive eyes, now the dark blue tint of snow in the moonlight, gaze at Soul with apprehension. "I'm afraid I don't have good news in our search for Spring."

He isn't perturbed nor shocked, Maka thinks. Instead he settles into that determined look she's seen too often.

"I figured. You weren't suppose to wander this close to the Moon."

She nods in assent. "Yes. Circumstances have changed. Most of the Winter searchers are returning to our mountains."

This bit of information causes an angry flush to spread across the Snow Eater's face. "What? _Why?_ " Maka shivers slightly at the sharp wind that picks up as if responding to his fury, the fire waving wildly and casting flickering gray shapes to create the illusion they're surrounded by unseen enemies.

Tsubaki cringes and hunches her shoulders apologetically. "Apparently, the tides have turned…drastically. For one, the orb that we're searching for…is supposedly in the hand of bandits. A ragtag team of humans _and_ Seasons. That's why I attacked you all. I thought perhaps you were that group. Some Winters don't want to risk endangering themselves by going after such a large threat. And then," She glances apprehensively at the Summer star settled near her. "The Winter…the Spider has asserted she has a way to end Summer, for good. She pledges an eternal Winter and calls everyone to take part in what she is naming 'The Final Battle.'"

Maka understands why the Winter was worried about sitting next to Black Star as his reaction is positively explosive. The Black Star practically implodes in his fury, smoldering like the fallen comet he truly is. For a second the blonde forgets that the world is in Winter's clutches as their campsite becomes the sight of a sun thrown to earth.

Soul yells some choice words though they don't help much. His only achievement is making the heat hotter. It is Tsubaki, whose cool, pale gentle hands bravely weather the blue inferno Black Star has become, that calms the Summer.

Once Black Star is settled and in a more recognizable form, the group, together, tidy up the decimated camp. The Summer doesn't apologize for his fury and consequential actions, but Maka takes note that he brushes the back of his hand against the discolored burns on the dark-haired Winter. It gives her a bubbly warmth deep inside her stomach and suddenly, she has an inkling of where to go.

Tsubaki is hesitant to follow a human who doesn't know a thing about the World Forest and the dangers that occur the closer one comes to the Edge, but Soul reassures her.

"Honestly, Tsubaki, Maka's been leading Black Star and I for a while now." Ah, Maka thinks, so he _was_ aware.

Her gut leads them two miles through dense underbrush, leafless from the bitter Winter wind chilling and killing the land, before a sudden break gives way to a small clearing. They come across eight caves that appear vaguely familiar, as if from a dream. Maka is trying to recall where she once saw them when Tsubaki gasps.

"Hey!" Soul points eagerly. "These are the same as the caves where Black Star came from!"

"Moon caves." Tsubaki breathes in wonder and excitement. Black Star dips his head in agreement while Soul and the small human girl beside him stare in confusion.

"Moon caves?"

"Yeah. You know…the legendary caves the Moon used to create the world?" Black Star nonchalantly supplies the information as if he is naming the Stars in his constellation. "I came through one when I met you two in that clearing. There's Moon caves near the Summer hall. We use them often to best Winter."

"So _that's_ how Summer spreads so quickly!" The two Winters exclaim simultaneously. Black Star shrugs and skips without a care to the nearest cave, sitting down before its black ominous mouth and making himself comfortable.

"How did you know these were here? They're supposed to be near impossible to find." Tsubaki questions Maka, who nervously watches the caves with a hollowness in her stomach. She's distracted and doesn't quite know how to answer such a question. She "follows her instincts" sounds too mortal of a reply to a Winter with probably centuries of knowledge at her disposal.

"Come to think of it," Soul ventures, looping his arm casually through the shivering blonde's. "You kind of directed us to the Moon Caves we discovered Black Star in. Any explanation?"

"…Just a feeling, I guess." And she stubbornly decides to leave it at that, taking Black Star's example to heart and settling in the mouth of one of the caves.

It is instantly warmer, she finds, inside. The Winter wind has no power in the inky cave and none of it is capable of entering.

Only fragile moonlight slips through the darkness as the Seasons and the human huddle together to sleep in the shadow of one of the vast Moon Caves.

* * *

It is a brave and likely futile decision her comrades and herself make. Maka tries to calm the fluttering of her heart as they watch the rambunctious and obnoxious group of bandits drink and eat with gusto. The decision was called to action the night after the Moon Caves in which, they all unanimously agreed, Spring _needed_ to be found. And immediately.

Tsubaki wasn't completely sure if Winter had the capability and means to eradicate Summer for good or even when the so-called "Final Battle" would begin, but she and Soul agreed the Spider was a Winter not to make such bold claims without some amount of strength to back them up. If the Spider had cleverly weaved a plan to defeat Summer once and for all, it was near certain to succeed.

Black Star did not wholeheartedly believe such a theory, but he, too, mentioned this would lessen the amount of Summers searching for Spring as they most likely were regrouping to defend themselves. The fact that Summer and Winter _would_ have a huge battle was a given at this time and Maka could only imagine the repercussions it would have on humans such as herself and her village…who had no say whatsoever in how the Seasons ruled and treated the land.

Summer and Winter were both rough to live through and sometimes many didn't make it…but to never have a break from the other…Maka, a farmer's daughter, knew for a fact the land would not survive such an ordeal. It needed the freezing of Winter and the heat of Summer. But most of all what it needed was the healing touch of Spring.

So they set off in search of the bandits who stole the Seasonal orb from the Moon. They thought the best plan was too retrieve the orb and bring it back to the Moon at the Edge of the World Forest and hope that the Moon would rejuvenate Spring.

It wasn't easy, but, by strategic use of the Moon Caves, the group finally tracked down the bandits to a seaside town. Maka had never seen the ocean before and was properly entranced that such a thing existed. Does the water freeze during the Winter? Did it evaporate in the Summer? Could it irrigate whole fields of food? She had so many questions.

One taste told her everything she didn't want to know about the ever-stretching plain of water. Soul and Black Star laughed so hard at her disgusted face that both Seasons started crying, one almost frozen teardrops and the other sparkling stardust. Tsubaki, the singular polite Season Maka had met, politely covered her mouth in an attempt to respect Maka's misfortunes, though the blonde human could tell the Winter lady was giggling behind her white hands.

And here they are now, seated in a tavern, a foreign old world concept lost to the villages born in the World Forest, stalking the supposed Moon thieves.

The crowd is so bizarre Maka can't truly tell which are the Seasons and which are the humans. Her Seasons were surprised to hear that Seasons would band together with humans and steal from the Moon in the first place, but it had been heard of. Seasons would ditch their kind, apparently, over extreme cultural differences.

Or even guilt, according to Soul. If these two Seasons were the reason for the demise of Spring, after suffering and witnessing the consequences of their actions and the war, they may feel burdened by their transgressions and therefore ostracized themselves from their own kind.

Maka didn't like the way Soul said it…as if he understood the supposed reasoning all too well. He wouldn't meet her eyes afterwards, still won't in fact, and it bothers her to no end.

If guilt were his reason for isolating himself and attempting to find Spring…for befriending her and being kind to her…well, it implied a thing the human didn't care to think about.

So she focuses on the objective: identifying the Seasons and locating which one is the likeliest to carry the Moon's stolen orb. As well as observing their mortal partners and deciding which could potentially be a threat.

Black Star had shown Maka some "moves" and "techniques" though both Soul and Tsubaki were avidly against Maka participating in a fight. She wanted to, however. She wanted to prove to herself and, perhaps, the Seasons that humans were not only fragile things to be protected but capable of great feats. If Maka couldn't believe in her own worth, then she certainly wouldn't have pushed herself this far nor would she be advocating against waiting for Spring. Humans deserved a life of balance. A life full of Summer _and_ Winter _and_ Spring _and_ even Autumn, a Season, Tsubaki explained, that once was separate from Winter, not merely the first sign of it.

Maka figures her Seasons will be better at identifying the other Seasons, though her eyes are drawn to the pink-haired lady and the bald man with black hair pointing straight in the air, and instead nominates who she could take and who she couldn't. She thinks that's the easiest way of prioritizing their preys' levels.

The dark-skinned boy with curling ringlets tied back neatly she believes might be the fiercest of them, despite him being a human. He sits quietly and pensively, assessing the tavern, all the while appearing at ease as he laughs with the group and balances a set of dark-haired twins on his lap. He has the eyes of a parent and thus must be treated as a grave threat. He's of a similar build to Maka, so she may be able to take him…but as she watches him watch the twins she thinks it'd be best not to challenge him…or the twins' safety.

To his right is a strong, silent man with a swath of cloth covering his eyes. Maka's not sure if he can see, but she's sure he's a formidable opponent.

The almost bald man and the pink-haired girl bicker often, another thing that reminds Maka of Seasons (Black Star and Soul being prime examples). She can hear some of what he says, most of it clever and well-thought out.

Maka's somewhat confident she could beat him, however, even if he ends up being one of the Seasons. Something in her makes her want to try. She's not aware if it's because there's foreign things he says that she wishes she thought of or knew or if he merely irritates her. He seems to be of an arrogant nature…similar to Black Star. Who, admittedly, did grow on her.

The only person who she can't quite pinpoint is the coal-haired girl whose arm is thrown casually over the pink-haired Season (Maka would be very shocked if the lady with pink hair wasn't a Season). The two women's backs are to their corner, but every time Maka catches a glimpse of the burn scar along the side of her face she feels a chill and the warmth in her stomach she's slowly getting accustomed to.

The Seasons were convinced after Maka located the Moon Caves and, later, discovered which one led them to the seaside town where the bandits were hiding that the human who Soul took under his wing to find Spring is not completely ordinary. Not only did she carry strange insight into the World Forest but she's gained an appreciation and an understanding of the Seasons. Where she once held hate for them she now bears a sense of _duty_ to them. A duty to set things right…because even the Seasons needed balance. Some of them couldn't realize it, but many did.

And there were her fellow humans to consider. People like her village and Tsugumi's and the elderly couple who were barely surviving through the Seasonal wars. People like her father who coughed too much during the Winter and passed out if under the Summer sun for too long. And then…people like her mother who died underneath the Winter ice to keep her child with Spring eyes warm…and who told her she couldn't wait for good things to happen, especially not when she had the powers to change it.

So when the time comes to confront the bandits on a deserted road leading back to the World Forest, Maka doesn't stay behind as the Seasons attack. In fact, she mimics Soul and pulls out the scythe blade he traded her, black and supple and somewhat warm to the touch. Like a mix of a Summer and Winter breeze, hot enough to keep the earth warm yet cool enough to be…refreshing.

The fight doesn't last long. Their surprise is advantage enough. Black Star and Tsubaki effortlessly and almost instantaneously remove the two Seasons from combat: the girl Maka was positive was a Season and the burned lady that she didn't know what to think of.

They then turn on the man and his twins who surrender calmly at the urging of his Seasons.

Soul and Maka defeat both the muscular blind man and his bald partner, a duo both amazing and frightening to behold. The blind man is faster than Maka could have guessed and, with his comrade shouting random syllables every now and then as well as parrying most of Soul's attacks with a shield emblazoned with a golden Sun cackling maniacally, a formidable opponent. They work without communicating, except for the bald one's sudden meaningless outbursts, and for a while Soul and Maka have trouble.

Eventually Maka comprehends that the defensive partner is occasionally shouting words to inform his blind attacker of their whereabouts. Once she knows this she purposely remembers a couple of them and begins shouting them at the same time his partner yells one, confusing him.

Soul motions her to his side and gives her a sanguinary glance that calms every nerve in her body while igniting them all at once. Somehow she knows just what to do.

In a display of teamwork she's never experienced with another…being before, Maka and Soul begin to parry and strike at a rate their opponents cannot match. Maka's gruff stuttering over the syllables that tell the blind man where he should be creates too much confusion for the two to overcome. Eventually they are left weaponless, the golden shield scraped and dirtied on the rocky ground.

The group gathers and bounds their victims, keeping a fervent eye on the Seasons as they seem the most deadly. Maka is jealous as she takes a closer look at the newest Seasons and marvels at their beauty, a different sort than Tsubaki's cold beauty or Black Star's burning aura. The burned girl stares with sunlight shining through orange leaves, a dusky, twilight color that hastily melts into the coal shadow of her hair like the backdrop of a starless night. Her companion scowls underneath sunset pink eyelashes and the green of plants starting to show signs of death. It jolts Maka with an electricity she can't describe…like she's seeing something new and bizarre.

Her toes twitch with internal heat. The two Seasons remind something inside of her of Soul and of stories of Spring's long past. She peeks out of the corner of her eye and meets Autumn leaves.

She isn't surprised when Tsubaki whispers, "You're Autumns."

The girl with the hint of Summer passing in her olive orbs laughs bitterly, almost hysterically. "Yeah. Sure. We're Autumns. Probably the last two Autumns in existence. You caught us. Good for you, _Winter_." She spits the word and Maka slowly starts to consider what such a label could mean to her.

"Hush, Kim." The burned one commands, sunshine eyes somehow not so bright but haunted and ghastly…like a fire withering into smoke, her face apathetic and unmoving. "We deserve whatever they choose to do to us. "

Soul grits his sharp teeth and steps forward, anger in his every motion. "So it _was_ you two who stole the orb and killed Spring! You two started this mess!" He tries to stride forward, closer to them, which Maka isn't sure is a good idea. She moves to stop him but is beaten by Black Star who wordlessly sticks a shining arm out as a sign for Soul to pause. Maka sees from the white-hot light pouring in waves off of the Summer that he is barely keeping himself together. She gratefully thanks the gods he is able to and, more still, has the control to aid in keeping Soul at bay.

"Ugh. Forget it, Jaq. We've stayed quiet for so long. Lived with the guilt for decades." Kim pointedly glares at Soul and snarls, "We didn't _mean_ to do it. The Moon needed it taken somewhere. He asked us to deliver it. Circumstances happened…the Springs gathered to bear a new Season and the Summer snake…She wanted to come along to see. She asked us to help her there. And when we finally arrived to meet Spring…she _killed_ them." The Autumn slowly lowers her head in sadness and Maka sees her entire group, humans included, do so as well…as if they knew the story and understood such pain of witnessing a Season be murdered.

"After that…we kept the orb." Jaq picks up where her fellow Autumn left off. "Didn't seem right to return it to the Moon since…we were supposed to be creating a new Spring. But afterwards there were no other Springs to create a new one and the Moon, in his age, we knew couldn't do so. We were going to give it to the leading Autumn but Winter took us so fast…that was it. We've been carrying it and the burden of leading the Snake to Spring for ages." Her voice drifts off aimlessly, an Autumn swell lost to Winter's howls.

Soul and Black Star both make sounds of disgust, one a scoff, the other a snort. Tsubaki simply sighs softly and gracefully kneels to gaze deep into the eyes of the human bandits and the Season outlaws.

"…And where is the orb now?"

Before either Autumn can answer the bald human chuckles darkly.

"Ah hah. We don't have it."


	4. in the time of the autumn moon

**A/N:** Alrighty, cool. Internet and a computer to properly post this last bit. Also, a reminder that this piece will be marked as "incomplete" because I plan on re-working some things! Still let me know what you think! Here's the end of my Reverb project "Waiting for Spring."

* * *

 _in the time of the autumn moon_

The World grows darker as the Moon gets bigger and it's a strange paradox Maka can't wrap her mind around. She would've assumed as they got closer to the glowing white orb that its light would surround them, engulf them maybe. She thought the sooner they arrived where the Moon touches the Edge of the World Forest the better things would be.

But instead the Forest turns wicked the nearer to the Edge they are.

The Seasons are on alert, jumping and turning at the slightest twitch of a shadow. None of them have ever been this far into the World Forest. They've heard stories, stories more twisted than any humans could conjure and all three are extremely aware and protective of the fragile girl that wanders with them.

Maka, however, is too busy fascinated to worry about the monsters in the night. She's entranced as the trees thin and slowly morph into warped, distorted leafless shapes, glowing with an internal light. It reminds her of the aura that shines around Black Star, a lit robe portraying his emotions. But it's cold and blue and in that way it fits Tsubaki's abnormal iris color and a slight chill settles along Maka's shoulders if she stares into them too long.

They are Summer and Winter together. But in this motionless part of the World Forest it becomes apparent neither Season rules here.

The noises are the only disheartening thing and draw to mind many legends and myths. Tales only told when younger children had gone to bed, woven with enemies even adults would fear. Soul and Tsubaki name them 'kishins' or at least that's as close to human language they can translate it, too. They are supposedly Seasons that wronged the Moon and were cursed to wander the Edge of the World forever. Or, Black Star claims, they are Seasons sworn to _protect_ the Moon. Beings that gave up their most prized possession, their immortal Self, to serve the one who created them.

The Seasons can't agree on what they are. Only that they should do whatever is in their power not to face one. Nonetheless, everyone, including Maka, sleeps with a blade in their hands.

They stocked up well on provisions before leaving the seaside town and releasing the two Autumns and their human companions. Tensions were high but the Autumns offered information about the orb and of the Edge, hoping that things may finally be set right. The two bandits that stole the orb, they knew, were heading that way, for reasons they couldn't say. The Edge and to the Moon was the best path if they still hoped to find Spring.

Even so, they are running low on food and supplies. The Seasons don't necessarily _need_ physical sustenance in order to survive, though, Maka quickly discovers, it improves their moods greatly. They spare whatever they can for her, but the amount dwindles every day. Maka learns to ignore the hunger pangs. She's felt them before and survived far worse. She just has to make it to the Moon. Surely, the Moon will help.

Black Star continues to grumble, insisting they should have used the Moon Caves. And they almost had. The problem was they couldn't understand which Cave led to where. Soul said they could travel through Cave after Cave and _still_ never reach the Edge. Besides, he mentioned, whose to say that there were any Moon Caves near the Edge? They were supposed to be beneficial during the Moon's creation, so what use would the Moon have of them where it touched the earth?

So they keep walking in the direction of the floating white rock. Each day it appears larger and closer to the ground.

But each night the kishins drift closer, always out of sight though their howls and sounds of huge paws stirring the dirt are not so far off into the distance anymore.

No one sleeps. Or, if someone does blessedly doze off, the other three are wide awake and silent. Any bit of sleep is short-lived and more frightening than refreshing. Every time Maka wakes up she's scared to death, afraid that one time she'll awake and no one will be there. Lost and alone in this in-between land for eternity. Even as they appear to be getting closer to the Moon, this strange land with no Season and hardly any bit of the sun seems timeless, ageless. Like they'll be traveling towards the Moon forever.

Or perhaps her greatest fear, as her stomach gnaws at her insides more and more with every passing moment, is that she won't wake up at all.

Salvation, if one could call it that, comes unexpectedly. And only after great peril.

Finally, made bold by their loss of energy and obvious loss of supplies, a kishin attacks.

It's a being that is indescribable, much like the part of the Forest it lives in. Maka can't settle on whether it looks like a bear or a jungle cat or a gigantic spider. All she can see is teeth and claws and an abnormal shadow mist surrounding it that burns the very air she breathes. As Black Star, the one nearest to it, coughs and his light dims a bit she realizes that she's not the only one affected by the kishin.

It roars and a foul wind rushes over them, hotter than Summer's and more disastrous than Winter's. Maka has to hold her mouth in an attempt to stop herself from retching. She's seen death before, prepared bodies for burial and dealt with the sickly sweet smell of decay…but this is something else entirely. This is the scent of a tomb, of hundreds or thousands dead at the mercy of this beast.

She screams and it's howls meld with her voice. She's not sure if she will survive this encounter. In fact, as the mist pouring off the kishin wraps around her, she feels like it's already stolen her voice and prepared her for death.

Soul grabs a wrist and removes a hand from one of her ears, an action she isn't aware of doing.

"Hey! We can fight this!" Autumn stares into green grass eyes as if peering into her soul. " _You_ can fight this."

The blonde human grabs for her black blade. When the moonlight hits it, it reflects with bright greens and glassy golds. She prepares herself for a fight.

Black Star and Tsubaki have recently perfected their fighting styles, recognizing their unique advances vaguely complement the other's. They are Summer and Winter, hitting the beast with fire and heat as well as bitter cold.

Soul and Maka provide defense and the occasional well-placed swipe, strategic in their maneuvering.

It doesn't seem to be enough. The creature shakes the earth and tosses the Star and his Assassin to the side like a horse shooing away flies. It slashes at Maka and Soul hurriedly rushes to block her with his body and his blade, causing them both to go tumbling backwards. Maka shrieks when the flat of the Winter's blade smacks against her forehead. There's a prick of pain and she almost reverently dabs at the blood. She hasn't bled in such a long time.

Suddenly she's reliving all these memories. She can see her mother, golden-haired and smiling. Soul said they had hair like daffodils. Her Papa is laughing, bouncing her delicately on his lap as the eldest in the village recalls the Last Spring. She remembers the sight of her Mama sinking below ice, becoming a part of the Winter blues that painted the land. And of Tsugumi who explained that even Summer held beauty in the world and then Soul. Soul with eyes so warm and a personality so caring he made her believe he wasn't a Winter at all…

Maka is lost in a haze as the Seasons try to regroup and push back the beast, growling excitedly and foaming at the mouth. The kishin believes it has new souls to consume, new Seasons cursed to limbo and even a pathetic human. A human who doesn't belong in such a place.

She's bleeding and Maka thinks she's going to die and there's still no more Spring. Her head is burning and warm, oh so warm, and it's spreading like a wildfire through her body. She thinks she's ablaze. She thinks she's melting or freezing or both.

She's still waiting for Spring. She'll be waiting for it until her last breath and it's a thought so terrifying she almost wishes she'd die already.

And then there's a golden flash and the kishin is squealing in pain at the yellow-white Moon, hovering so close to the earth as if it wishes to witness the battle.

Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki settle back in awe as more flashes pierce the gray twilight backdrop coming from numerous directions. The kishin is twitching and flailing, trying to no avail to stop the mysterious weapons descending on it. It gives one last bloodcurling screech before falling too pieces, large chunks of shadow flesh becoming black puddles and curls of purple mist evaporating into the murky air.

Soul runs to Maka and she watches his face contort into a twisted mess like the trees around them. He raises a hand as if he wants to wipe the blood from her cut away, but he pulls back. Maka's not sure who is more in pain; her with blood pouring down her face like red tears or him whose eyes are mirroring the liquid from her wound.

He pulls her gently to her feet and she sways a bit, but grabs his extended arm and keeps her balance. Tsubaki and Black Star act like they're coming to help but both pause and immediately slip into defensive positions. Soul's head whips in the direction they're facing. Maka knows he wishes to ready himself as well but he stays rigidly still for her to hold onto, a Winter rock.

Two gray shapes form out in the distance. They approach steadily and quickly, their shady appearances slowly showing two human-shaped persons.

Finally, Maka makes out two females, both with arms raised and two golden bows notched with finely carved arrows.

The tallest with yellow hair shimmering like the sun's heatwaves speaks first. "What are you doing here? Seasons are not welcomed."

Black Star snorts and easily slips out of his intense position, choosing instead to relax against a tree. "Uh huh. That's why you two are here. Now get lost. We're on a mission."

Tsubaki nods in agreement, though she chooses to remain poised and on edge. "Yes. This is no one's territory. Thank you for your assistance, but we'll be continuing on our way."

The shorter female laughs uproariously. "You don't seem to get it. Turn around or," Both women pointedly acknowledge their formidable bows aimed at them, "We kill you."

Maka views the entire exchange in a surreal manner, the loss of blood frazzling her mind. There's that indomitable warmth still flooding her veins as she launches herself off of Soul's arm and forward, toward their would-be saviors. Or are they would-be killers?

"Wait!" She shouts, or tries to. It comes out as a vicious hacking sound and she has to clear her throat and repeat herself. "Wait."

The blondes immediately turn their eyes to her as she comes their way, dodging Black Star and Tsubaki's reaching hands. She hears Soul behind her asking her to step back and stop being stupid. But she doesn't. She _can't._ They're demanding they turn around and Maka won't let that happen.

She's not dead yet and she won't go back to waiting.

As she gets closer she notices subtle differences. The Seasons, as they must be, she's met enough Seasons now to understand being in the presence of them, are so obviously sisters, colored almost identically. But where one is Summer skies for eyes and Summer's heated sunlight as the gold of her hair, the other is Winter's icicles and the pale yellow Winter sunrise after a heavy snowfall.

They're _different_ Seasons. Sisters born on opposite sides of the war.

"Wait." Maka says again, though they haven't shot her yet so they must be waiting.

The taller, probably the eldest, points a shimmering arrow at her heart. "Seasons die here."

"I'm not a Season." Maka replies because what else can she say? She reaches a hand out as the fire inside her persuades her to go even closer and delicately touches the tip of the arrow. Both Seasons stare in shock at her bravery and at the crimson liquid marring the shining arrow and the pale skin of her forehead.

The shorter sister lowers her bow, brows narrowed in confusion. "You-You're a human? But…how? Why are you here?"

The Summer sister follows her lead, eventually lowering her bow as well and taking a step towards Maka. "A human. Here of all places." She looks over Maka's shoulder at Soul, Tsubaki, and Black Star watchful and ready to attack if necessary. "And with Seasons, too."

Maka feels like she's laying on her back gazing upwards at a cloudless Summer sky as the Season stares with increasing intensity into her eyes. "Why are you here?"

There's a rushing noise in her ears like an avalanche on a mountain and a blaze rising in her gut, spreading and moving until she's sure she's alight like Black Star.

"I'm here to find Spring."

* * *

The sisters are the Solstices, two Seasons that were born long before the feud, though forced to separate once Spring disappeared. They didn't want to be apart and therefore abandoned their own 'kind,' choosing instead to be renegades. Bandits and outlaws to humans and Seasons alike. Only caring about themselves and that they were together.

And then they met the Equinox. The new moon. A scrawny kid with hair like raven wings and three half-stripes circling his head like a partial white crown, soon to become whole. He offered them assistance, even though they were attempting to steal from them at the time. He asked them what they wanted most in the world and they answered, not entirely knowing why.

They wanted the world, the Seasons, everything to be balanced again.

He said they should accompany him on a journey. So they did.

It took them decades to discover the reason Spring died and several others to discover that an orb was stolen from the present Moon and that this orb could supposedly bring back Spring under certain circumstances. It took them even longer to track down the bandits who stole it.

Now, they are on their way to the Moon to return the stolen orb and hopefully bring back Spring.

"So you see," Liz, the Summer Solstice, concludes their tale, "that's why we were so suspicious. We're finally so close. Besides, you wouldn't believe how many Seasons, and even some humans, were after the orb."

She settles comfortably against the shallow cave wall, her younger sister and Winter Solstice, Patti, snuggling into her left side. To her right sits Kid, the fond nickname they gave to the Equinox. Since he is, technically, the Moon's kid.

It didn't take long after Maka's firm declaration that the sisters led them to their current place of dwelling, a near invisible cave only a mile away from the Edge of the World Forest and the world. Maka can see, even from inside, the vastness of the Moon and the exact shimmering, silvery spot where it touches the earth.

In front of it is a huge, spiraling silver-white tree descending towards the Heaven, four heaving boughs, she assumes, representing the four Seasons. One is etched with flames and water and certain flowers that only come out during the Summer's rigid heat. Another is laden with icicles and delicate snowy vines with a cruel beauty only seen during Winter's reign. And then the lower two, slightly smaller than their brethren: one green and shifting like every piece of growth on it is alive and ready to blossom and the other full of colorful leaves some red, purple, and a fearsome orange as well as dotted with what appears to be miniature pumpkins.

"Yes," Kid says, voice a haunting monotone that gives Maka the impression of sleepless nights and the tinkling of dancing streams, "it's taken us quite a while to find the orb. I'm only hoping my father can fix this mess. The world is falling apart. There has been too much death among Seasons and too much innocence lost among humans." Golden eyes pierce into Maka with an all too knowing gaze.

Perhaps the Moon and the gods noticed the people's suffering after all.

She politely nods as she sidles closer to Soul. He, Tsubaki, and Black Star all took this new knowledge gracefully, only stipulating that the Solstices and the Equinox could have made their journey easier by searching for allies. It warms Kid's heart to hear that the Seasons are discovering for themselves that the world needs balance and that there were those loyal among them, but, he counters, it has taken many decades for them to come to such a realization. Liz, Patti, and himself have been searching close to the very beginning of the tragic loss of Spring.

"Nonetheless, we are all here now. And, I grant, we are all in need of some rest. Let us refresh ourselves before we travel to the Moon." Once again Maka feels the weight of the night sky upon her and meets the omniscient gaze of the Equinox. "I do so hope we will not have to wait for Spring much longer."

For some reason the human thinks the statement is meant for her. She replays the message over and over in her mind as she drifts off to sleep, head leaning heavily on her Winter's strong shoulder.

* * *

Maka is shaken lightly awake with skin pressed softly but firmly against her mouth.

She doesn't make a noise, knowing that she isn't in any danger once she sees the brilliant scarlet eyes next to her. The human nods her understanding and his palm is removed from her lips.

"What's going on?" She whispers, glancing at the sleeping forms of Tsubaki, Black Star, and the Solstices.

"Kid want us outside." He takes a look at her puzzled expression and quickly pants, "I'm not sure why."

She gingerly accepts his offered hand and stumbles tiredly to her feet. They exit the cave with hands clasped and stand there as a united front before Kid. He stares for a time at their intertwined fingers but in the end doesn't mention it.

"Come with me."

And they follow him.

It's a long walk and harrowing descent down to where the Moon touches the earth and what Kid calls the World Tree. It isn't obvious from where their cave was, but now as Maka and Soul cautiously hike down the near non-existent path Kid leads them that the world actually curves to an end. The ground isn't flat to the Moon but a sudden decline in the ground, tilted like part of the earth went missing.

He then proceeds to the World Tree where Maka is shocked to find there's an opening in the stump. Kid goes in without pause, but Maka and Soul slow to a stop before the gaping hole. Soul moves until his in front of her, blocking the view of the World Tree. All she can see is hair like fresh snowfall and eyes the color of human blood.

"We don't have to go in there."

An eyebrow raises. "We? I thought you wanted Spring back?"

He sighs restlessly and scratches the back of his neck. "I do. But…I've found another important thing I want to protect. Something I don't even have to search for." His gaze hardens to polished glass. "We _don't_ have to go in there. We can survive the feud…together."

Maka's touched by his words and gently brushes the tips of her fingers on his smooth skin. She wants to, for the moment, just leave. Go back and travel the Forest without worries with Tsubaki, Black Star, and Soul. Even though this is where they were destined to end up, the place they were heading for since the beginning, she finds herself wishing she were anywhere else other than here.

But every second she blinks Maka sees another face behind her closed eyes. Some of them are people long gone and some are people she's yet to meet.

She removes her hand and squeezes his that's still in her grasp.

"Yes, we do."

The human doesn't know what to expect when they enter the World Tree, but it isn't a bulky man with an eerily glowing mask shaped like a skull sitting patiently and drinking tea with Kid at a deceptively normal wooden table.

"Ah!" The Moon gasps when the two walk in, his voice lighthearted and jovial, a stark contrast to the somber tone of his son. "You came! Wonderful!" He claps his huge hands delightedly and Kid huffs softly to himself.

Maka and Soul stand there awkwardly and gape at the seemingly gentle, happy-go-lucky Moon spirit.

"Now, now. I know what you two must be thinking. How could I have let that happen to Spring?" The Season and the human barely get a chance to reply when the Moon begins again. "Well, just because I'm the Moon doesn't mean I know absolutely everything or get to do anything I want! I created this world with rules and rules, unfortunately, must be followed. Even by me." He shakes his head distraughtly from side to side.

"I never imagined the Winter Spider and Summer Snake were _that_ desperate for power. And I also never suspected they'd find a loophole in the Season system. Who would've thought a Season would dare to wipe out another? It's preposterous. The whole idea! But…it happened. Spring…and I, I never saw it coming." There's a silence as Kid watches on intently and Soul and Maka unanimously decide to listen rather than speak. There's nothing than can say anyways, nothing to comfort the Moon who is burdened with the memories of a creation killed by other creations of his.

"But now…now there is hope again." The Moon smiles, or at least, Maka believes he's smiling, the mask makes it difficult to tell, as he holds out a hand and Kid calmly places a shining black sphere into it. The Moon slowly approaches Soul and Maka, halting finally right in front of the blonde human, hands cupping the dainty orb before her.

"Maka. I have watched you…for a very long time, believe it or not. I know how badly you wanted Spring. How it was a dream of your mother's. How you selflessly work so hard to protect and serve everyone around you, even new people you meet. Why. You were willing to part with food when meeting Soul. You insisted on trade to help your village, but you still allowed a stranger one of the most precious things of your people. You fought your way here, recklessly risking your life to prevent Black Star and Soul from fighting, or Liz and Patti from attacking your friends or shooing you away from your path."

"You…have a gift of peace. Of tenacity. Of love and tenderness. Of wanting something so badly you'll do anything to make it happen."

The Moon gently reaches for her hands and Maka hesitantly unfolds one of them from Soul's, bringing them together to hold the precious orb as the Moon places it in her open palms. The orb immediately turns a vibrant green with splashes and accents of gold. As Maka peers into it she sees the World Forest covered in colors she's never seen before, colors so rich and plentiful it almost sears her eyes. She sees her village covered in green grass instead of red sand and her people seated at a feast with her father alive and well at the head of the table. She sees Tsugumi's village dancing and laughing in the center of their barn, eating merrily.

She sees water fall from the sky and rejuvenate the earth, so tired and crumbling from being frozen and dried out.

And lastly she sees her reflection with minor changes, a strange warmth pouring off of her like a light she can't hide inside any longer.

"You…want me to become Spring?"

She gazes in awe at the faceless Moon, the mask not so much of a mask but as a physical representation of the part of him in all of the World. Her Mama always said every human being was made from the Moon, that their very bones tied them to the World.

"Seasons have to be born, too. That was once Spring's job…to choose those worthy of becoming Seasons. Those worthy with the power to keep the World at balance. They won't always be the right choicest, but I figure…most that you'll pick will turn out alright. Besides, who better to be the first Spring reborn into the world than the person who wants it back the most?"

Maka stares at the orb, happily glimmering in her hands, the first Spring to hold it in who knows how long. She knows when she meets the pensive eyes of Kid, the Moon she will serve, and of Soul, who watches her with a deep sadness in his eyes, that this will not be the easiest choice. She still has much work ahead of her and she will never be mortal again. She'll never be human again. And she doesn't fully understand what that could mean.

But as she remembers the first day she set out with Soul from her village, how she told her father she'd bring back Spring even if it were the last thing she do, that she already has her answer. All of her actions leading her to this moment have been proof of what she is willing to do.

She's kept too many people waiting.

* * *

 _in the time of the awaited spring_

It wasn't easy, ending the feud. Even the arrival of a new Spring didn't automatically mean the danger was gone. There were still those who desired an everlasting Winter or never-ending Summer.

But with the Equinox, the Winter flower, the brightest Summer star, the Solstices, and the first Autumn in perhaps a century on her side, most fell in line quickly enough. The rest faded to the background. At least Maka had friends to keep watch over the world and maintain the balance with her.

She's still not accustomed to her new form, to the way she floats when she walks or how things suddenly blossom out of nowhere if she stares at something too hard. But Soul says she somehow looks more herself than before, with daffodils perched like a crown atop her ashy hair. He also appears more at ease with himself, his eyes somehow brighter and his hair somehow not so stark against his tanned skin. He is the Season that bridges Summer and Winter just as she bridges them as well. They work together and they find they both enjoy that change.

Maka gets one last chance to talk with her father and happily discovers how proud he is of her. He also fervently believes her mother is smiling down on them now and how she always said they had a daughter made for Spring. The father of Spring laughingly mentions, as he eyes Soul in the distance, that there are still some who will forever wait on Spring.

Spring smiles and replies, "Not for very long."

They disappear into the horizon, hand and hand, as the Moon rises and watches the world heal from the Edge.


End file.
